Travelodge's decision is irritating on three grounds. First, in fact no one had complained about the presence of the Bibles. NO ONE. Second, it’s an act of cultural vandalism upon a tradition that goes back 126 years. It’s long been comforting to know that when the TV gets irritating and there’s nothing left to do in your hotel room, you can always open up the bedside table drawer and find a Gideon’s in there. I’ve stayed in a hotel in Detroit that was obviously being used for immoral purposes (or as a place to shelter from the gun crime) and was delighted to discover that even in that den of vice there was a well-ruffled Good Book chained to the desk. Sally Hitchiner, an Anglican priest, tweets: “When I stay in hotels I almost always place Bible book mark in a comforting passage in the hope someone might find it”. Which is nice.

Third, Travelodge’s decision to play the “diversity” card just makes you want to bang your head against the wall. The white, middle-class, over-educated liberals who cry “diversity!” at every damn opportunity make the following specious arguments:

1. “Britain isn’t Christian anymore.”

Yes, it is. We have thing called a state church and the Queen is the head of it. If you don't like it, go and live in France.

2. “Fewer and fewer people call themselves Christian.”

But if we’re playing a numbers game then Britain is still far more Christian than anything else: 59 per cent are Jesus believers, 4.8 per cent are Muslims.

3. “People of other faiths will be offended.”

Really? By a Bible hidden in a drawer?! And more disgusted by a religious book than by the hard core porn you can watch on the TV (for a small price)? The only people who are going to be actively offended by finding a Bible in there are Wahhabi terrorists. And you probably want to discourage that kind of clientele anyway.

4. “You’ve got to cater for everyone.”

Yet surely that is an argument for increasing the amount of religious literature available in the hotel room? I suggest a small library: the Koran, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Buddhist prayer wheel etc. Oh, and a Marilyn Manson LP for the Cthulhu lovers out there. (All hail Cthulhu, by the way. His day is coming.)

Given that there is no sound, logical reason for removing all the Gideons, we are at liberty to infer a motive. And it could be as simple as this: Travelodge succumbing to the anti-Christian mood of elements of the British political and commercial establishment. Maybe they’re afraid of being sued by a cranky atheist professor, maybe they’re run by the same liberal poindexters who gave us airport multi-faith prayer rooms and prayer-less assemblies (because who wants to expose children to things like morality and poetry?). Whatever the cause, they’re now contributing to the creeping crud of cultural disintegration. And maybe it’s the early morning caffeine talking, but it makes me want to move to Utah.

How do we fight back? Book a room, install an altar, burn up the incense and hold a Mass. Don’t boycott these goons: get even.

Update: I've seen a press statement by Travelodge indicating that this policy is not new (as the Daily Mail's report implied) and has been in operation since 2007. Why they think this fact would silence any critics, I cannot fathom. It was a dumb idea to remove the Bibles seven years ago and a dumb idea to do it now.